I was up late last night and my mind started racing. I was thinking about how all assumptions about church planting changes once you no longer can assume the culture is Christian. It is actually quite humorous to think of some of the old assumptions about church planting that some of us grew up with. Boy have the times changed. Since not all of us are necessarily living in places where Christendom has died, I thought I’d offer my thoughts in terms of the following 10 signs that may indicate Christendom in over in your neck of the woods too.
10 Signs That Christendom May Be Over
- You do a survey in the neighborhood asking people what they’re looking for in a church on Sunday morning and they respond by saying “they never heard of such a thing.”
- You fill in that yearly report card for church plants from the denomination … and when you get to the question about how many converts made decisions for Christ this year, no one asks if they can count Catholics in the church as “converts” anymore.
- The local District says all ministries must be self-supporting in 3 years … and you ask what does “self supporting” mean? Because we already have jobs.
- You invite your neighbors to the new video simulcast church plant down the street .. and they ask you why they just can’t stay at home and watch it on cable.
- You send out 10,000 postcards inviting people to come to a more relevant church … and 10 people show up asking for tickets to the Oprah show.
- Your grandmother tries to explain why her church used to have a Sun. morning, Sun. evening and midweek service every week … and every body thinks she’s crazy.
- People mistake your Jesus tattoo for Che Guevara and ask why you prefer Marxism to postmodernity. You end up inviting people over for a coffee and talking about Jesus as an alternative politics.
- A denominational official visits your church and asks about your foreign missions program. Someone in your congregation mistakenly responds by sending him to the local department office of immigration
- No one says any more before the offering: “if you’re visiting please do not feel obligated to contribute.” Now it’s “if you’re visiting, this is what it means to be a Christian: we’re in this together and your money is not your own.”
- When the pastor was announcing a new church “building project” he was not referring to a new church building, he was talking about the community’s Habitat for Humanity venture in the neighborhood.
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These are just a start… anyone have another one to add?
On the passing of Christendom, I might recommend this book and this one as well.
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First of all, of course I find it fascinating that the images on both covers of both recommended books rely on architectural images to convey their meaning. Secondgly…concerning the first book link…WHAT and WEHRE is that building!? Do you own that book…is that an answerable question (does it say on the inside jacket or something?)? It looks like something that would have been designed by Rem Koolhause or one of his cronies.
And I must say…although the ultimate weight of the topic isn’t exactly humorous…the following was humorous to me: “People mistake your Jesus tattoo for Che Guevara and ask why you prefer Marxism to postmodernity. You end up inviting people over for a coffee and talking about Jesus as an alternative politics.” DF – I didn’t know you HAD a Jesus tatoo!?
And I’m not sure if my mind is wrapped around the issue enough to find too many more humorous sounding signs of the end of christendom…but maybe…
1. When you plant a church in Hollywood and you feel like you HAVE to do a 6 or 7 week series called “Hollywood and the Ancient Text” to get through to your audience. Each week you base your sermnon on a popular Hollywood film of the past year. Of course the films are democratically chosen by the congregation.
2. An “updated” between-generations pastor is left deeply befuddled at some of his congregational members’ interest in “more traditional” forms of worship. They read about the music and worship at the community of Taize, France, explain it with excitement to the hip pastor, and he gives a befuddled Pink Panther look as if he might solve the mystery by sheer accident.
3. Pews are out of the question. Couches or tables?
How about:
1) There are twice as many mosques in your neighborhood than churches.
2) All the church buildings in your neighborhood aren’t used by churches anymore. Instead, they are now coffee shops or theatres or apartments.
3) When the rise in church attendance in your area corresponds to the rise in immigration to your area.
Jason- I’m guessing he grabbed the Jesus tat one from Pernell Goodyear, who visited recently and who does have a Jesus tattoo that looks surprisingly like Che Guevara.
Or else Dave is hiding his Che/Jesus tattoo somewhere…
Aahhh…Pernell Goodyear…the things you learn if you actually know folks face to face. And from what I know of DF, I like him…but I’d prefer not to know the location of any such potential tatoos, lol.
jason … you make me blush … I call for a moratorium on all tatoo speculation concerning me and Pernell … Mark Van … good additions… I like all three of em …
I really liked the bullet on being self-sustaining.
wow…doesn’t that show a mind shift?
you might be at the end of christendom when in the middle of a sermon you say,
“It was all down hill after the Apple…” and someone stands up and shouts, “Yeah, and Microsoft too!!”